Sunday, May 16, 1993 (Continued)

Since all the teachers were huddled in front of the message on the second floor and all the students were locked in their common rooms, Hadrian was less careful than he otherwise might have been as he made his way to Professor Lockhart's apartments. Distracted as he was, thinking about taking Lockhart out and "rescuing" Ginevera, it was easy for two identical red-heads to ambush his progress by pulling him into an unused classroom two corridors before the Defense room.

"Wha-" Hadrian started to cry out, before recognizing the twins, and the flurry of privacy and silencing magic they were casting on the room. "What are you two doing here?"

"We could," began Fred.

"Ask you," continued George.

"The same thing," they finished together.

"Guys, I appreciate that you're worried about your sister, but I promise, she's fine, and you'll have her back safe and sound before the end of today," Hadrian said clearly, rubbing the bridge of his nose, an action reminiscent of a certain dark-headed potion master.

"We're not," started Fred again.

"Here to"

"Stop you…"

"We're here"

"To help," the twins finished together, like always, but the flipping back and forth was starting to give Hadrian a headache.

"Fine, you can come if you follow my lead, and drop the twinspeak, unless we're in front of Lockhart," he finally decided after a few moments of thought. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have backup, and the twins were certainly capable of that, especially with someone as incompetent as their defense professor.

"What's the plan?" the two asked at the same time. They exchanged glances and grinned when Hadrian only shook his head. At least they hadn't split it word by word like he'd expected they would.

"Ok, the rest of the teachers are in front of the entrance to the Chamber, where there's a message about a student being taken inside," Hadrian judiciously edited information about the chamber. His entire friend group knew about it, but he hadn't shared how many entrances, or where they were located since they all required parseltongue to activate. Well, perhaps the ladies Salana and Zara would allow his friends through without it if there were a really good reason, but he hadn't wanted to ask and push the Slytherins for more than they were willing to give right at the start of their relationship. Maybe next year… Hadrian gave a mental shake and returned his thoughts to the more important matter at hand.

"Being the hero I am, I have information about the Chamber which will help Lockart in his quest to retrieve the student and deal with the monster within." He rolled his eyes at that. "You'll have to be convincingly worried about your sister, and show your Gryffindor brashness if he asks you two anything. Maybe say you wanted to protect the little firsties along with getting your sister back." The twins were nodding. "I'm going to get him to the chamber, incapacitate him, stage a fake battle with the monster, and heroically rescue both Ginevra and Professor Lockhart." He paused before muttering quietly, "Hopefully that will appease Dumbledork."

The twins heard his mutter about the headmaster and they locked eyes and returned their attention to the small boy in front of them so quickly as to be almost unnoticeable. Hadrian was already back to thinking about what he would say, and the twins were thinking about how they could help, and what on earth Hadrian could mean by his statement about the headmaster. By unspoken agreement, the twins removed the charms on the room and the small group left, making their way directly to the defense classroom, and the teacher's chambers which were attached to it.

All three heard the muffled noises coming from within the room, which descended into immediate silence when Hadrian knocked politely on the door. A few moments, and the door opened a crack.

"Oh… Mr. Potter… Mr. Weasley...Mr. Weasley...I'm rather busy at the moment," The disheveled man stated, opening the door a sliver more, "So if you could please be quick."

"Professor," Hadrian started quickly, "we have some information for you. We think it will help!"

Lockart looked uncertain, but finally nodded, and pulled the door open to allow the three boys inside. The office had been almost completely stripped. Two large trunks were open on the floor, a plethora of robes haphazardly spilling from one; books, photographs, and paintings were jumbled and crammed into the other.

Pasting a confused look on his face, though he was nearly certain he knew exactly what was going on, Hadrian spoke, "Are you going somewhere?"

The twins pulled their eyes from the mess surrounding them to pierce Lockhart with steady stares.

"Well, yes, if you must know," the blonde replied, ripping a poster from the back of the door. "It was an urgent call, completely unavoidable."

"What about our sister?!" the twins said together, shock infusing their tone.

"You're the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher! You can't go now, not with all the dark stuff going on!" Hadrian added.

"Yes, well, no one regrets more than I…" Lockhart continued his packing, mumbling jumbled up phrases about the job description, and the situation not being up to his expectations.

"So you're running away?" Hadrian asked incredulously. "After all that stuff you did your books?"

"Books can be misleading, boy," Lockhart said in a harried tone, still packing paintings, easels, posters, and other things in a rush.

"You wrote them!" The twins shouted together, beginning to see where Hadrian was going.

"Do use your common sense, boys," Lockhart said, pausing his packing long enough to stare at each of them for a moment before he resumed. "My books wouldn't have sold half so well if people didn't think I did those things. No one wants to read about some ugly old Armenian warlock, even if he did save a village from werewolves. And the witch who banished the Badden Banshee had a harelip. They would've looked horrible on the covers. No dress sense at all."

"So…" Hadrian began a bit slowly, sounding as if he were just coming to a realization, "You've been taking credit for things other people have done?"

"Harry, Harry, Harry," Lockhart tried to croon at the boy, who flinched back from his hands. "It wasn't nearly as simple as that. There was work involved. I had to track those people down and ask them how exactly they managed to do what they did. Then I had to memory charm them so they wouldn't remember doing it. If there's one thing I pride myself on, it's my memory charms. No, it's been lots of work, Harry. It's not all book signings and publicity photos, you know. If you want fame, you have to be prepared for the long, hard slog."

The three boys were staring at their teacher in shocked surprise while he banged the trunk lids closed and locked them.

"Lets see," the man said, turning to survey the room, "I think that's everything. Oh yes, only one thing left." He pulled his wand and turned towards the three. "Awfully sorry, boys, but I'll have to put a memory charm on you now. Can't have you blabbing my secret all over the place. I'd never sell another book." His wand had been slowly rising as he spoke.

But Hadrian was faster, drawing his wand and shouting out "Expelliarmus!"

Lockhart was blasted back over one of his trunks and into the wall. His wand flew into the air, and one of the twins, he thought it was Fred, snatched it before it fell, throwing it out the open window. The twins each grabbed one of the moaning man's arms, hauling him back to his feet. They marched him out of his office, through the silent corridors, and down the nearest set of stairs which led to the corridor where the message shone brilliantly red. The other teachers had disappeared, presumably to continue discussing the situation elsewhere, or to complete tasks assigned by the headmistress.

Fred and George both had their wands out and when they reached the girl's toilet, shoved the man in behind Hadrian, still following him with wands drawn. Myrtle was nowhere to be seen. Hadrian had spoken to the usually sobbing ghost a few days before and asked her to leave her bathroom over the weekend. Since she had a bit of a crush on the boy, she readily agreed. Before the twins had fully stepped into the room, Hadrian hissed the password at the sink and the entrance began to open. Lockhart was shaking like a leaf, and the twins rolled their eyes at him.

"Alright," Hadrian said decisively, "I'm going down."

"Us, too!" the twins replied.

There was a pause before Lockhart spoke, "Well, you hardly seem to need me," he tried to smile his usual grin, "I'll just-" Before he could finish all three wands were pointed directly at his face.

"You'll go first," Fred said a bit menacingly.

White-faced, and still wandless, Lockhart approached the opening. "Boys, what good will it do," he began feebly.

Hadrian poked him in the back with his wand and Lockhart sat on the edge, his legs dangling into the black.

"I really don't think-" was all he managed to say before the twins pushed him, and he slid quickly out of sight.

"There are stairs, but I thought this would be better for him," Hadrian said with a smirk. The twins nodded, and jumped straight into the pipe. Hadrian cast the impervious charm to protect his clothes, and then slid down after them. Knowing what to expect, when the pipe leveled out and he was let off in mid air, he quickly oriented himself, spread his arms like wings, and bent his knees to prepare for the impact.

He landed rather gracefully, and saw Lockhart attempting to brush dirt and grime off his once-aqua robes that were now a rather ugly muddy brown-green. The twins stood to either side of the fraud, wands still drawn and pointed at him.

"Lumos," Hadrian whispered, lighting his wand. He led the way through the twists and turns of the tunnel until they came to a massive shed snakeskin.

"Blimey," George said quietly. There was a sudden move from behind them, and when they turned to look, Lockhart was on the floor. His knees had given way.

"Get up," Fred ordered, wand at the ready. George stepped back a bit quietly, but still watched Lockhart closely.

The man jumped up and lunged at Fred, knocking the teen to the floor. Hadrian and George jumped forward, but they were too late. Lockhart was straightening up, panting, but smiling. Fred's wand was clenched in his hand.

"The adventure ends here, boys," He said brushing his hair out of his face. "I'll take a bit of this skin up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl, and that you three tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body. Say goodbye to your memories," he concluded, pointing the stolen wand at Hadrian.

George was edging forward, but a nearly imperceptible motion from Hadrian stopped him. Lockhart waved the wand and shouted, "Obliviate!"

The flash of light that emerged exploded with the force of a small bomb. Hadrian ducked, covering his head as stones began falling from the ceiling. He dodged the skin and backed away until he was free from the falling debris. When the noise subsided, he was standing alone, looking at a wall of rock.

"Fred? George?" Hadrian shouted, "Are you guys ok?"

"We're fine," came muffled voices from behind the rocks. "This git isn't though. The memory charm backfired; he's got no clue who he is!"

Hadrian smiled. That wasn't exactly what he had planned to get rid of the pompous ponce, but his heir rings did protect against obliviates. Perhaps the rebound was part of the protection? He shrugged and shouted out that he was going to get Ginevra. The twins said they'd start trying to shift some of the rock so he could get back through, not knowing there were something like a dozen other exits the youngest could use to get out.

Hadrian made his way quickly down the passageway now, he had things to complete. Ginevra was waiting in the main chamber, sitting by one of the snake statues that wasn't surrounded by a puddle of water. Hadrian had been working to clean up the antechamber, but it really wasn't high on his priority list, so it was still rather damp and dirty. He hissed for Zelena to join him. She was just biting the fake diary when Fawkes flashed into the room, carrying the Sorting Hat.

Hadrian was rather confused by their appearance, Fawkes was Dumbledore's bird, so why would he have come to him?

The phoenix dropped the hat in front of Hadrian who was petting Zelena, and then perched on a nearby statue, watching Ginevra, Hadrian, and the basilisk carefully. Hadrian was still confused, but when the tattered hat spoke, he picked it up and set it carefully on his head.

"Ah, Mr. Potter-Black. We meet again at last," the disembodied voice spoke into his head.

"Hello, Hat," Hadrian replied.

"Fawkes would like to know why the girl appears to be fine, if possibly under some sort of enchantment, when all indications were that she would be petrified or dead due to the monster...Who I assume is the lovely snake we saw when we arrived," the hat explained. "And I must admit, I am curious as well."

"She's under the imperius," Hadrian admitted, knowing the hat could see all his thoughts, occlumency or not. "We needed something to distract Dumbledore from focusing on me all the time, and I found something I thought would work in the form of Tom Riddle's diary. Since Dumbledore is so convinced Voldemort will be back, we thought it would work."

"We?" the hat asked carefully.

"I don't live with my muggle relatives, I live with the Malfoys," Hadrian explained briefly. "My aunt and uncle were abusive and my cousin a bully. Lucius and Severus rescued me when I was eight and I've been with them ever since. Draco is my magical brother, and we're working on a plan to make the wizarding world better."

"We have been sent to help you, young Hadrian," the hat continued. "When the governors heard a student had been taken to the chamber, they summoned Dumbledore back, being the only professor who was here the previous time it was opened. He sent Fawkes to you, as well as myself to assist in your battle against the monster in the chamber."

At that, a weight felt as though it dropped into the hat and Hadrian carefully removed the hat when instructed, reached in, and pulled the sword of Godric Gryffindor from the clearly enchanted depths of the hat. He inspected it with no little amount of awe for a few moments, before carefully laying it to the side.

Fawkes had been listening carefully, and testing Hadrian's emotions as he listened and spoke. Realizing he was Gryffindor and Slytherin's heir, the bird crooned and trilled a bit, making his request through the hat.

"Fawkes would like to bond to you, Mr. Potter-Black," the hat said.

"Hadrian, please, Mr. Potter-Black sounds so formal and I'm only twelve," Hadrian pleaded a bit with the hat.

"Hadrian then. Since you are the heir to two founders, a bond to you would sustain him much more than the superficial bond he has with all the headmasters. He was Godric's familiar in the first place, you know," the hat explained the situation succinctly.

Hadrian started laughing and spoke out loud this time, "I've bonded the familiar of Salazar Slytherin, and now Godric Gryffindor's familiar wants to bond with me as well?" He shrugged. "Why not? So long as you can get along with Zils, my magical white lipped island viper, Hedwig, my owl, Nagini, Tom Riddle's familiar who I had to bond with because she was dying, and Zelena, I think we're good."

Fawkes swooped up to the entrance to the Slytherin rooms and waited for Hadrian to levitate himself up. They made their way through the room, Salazar starting rather badly when he noticed Fawkes, but greeting the bird politely, and waving at Hadrian as he opened the ritual room.

He saw the usual familiar bonding set up, but when he stepped to the center of the circle to begin the ritual, Fawkes flew right up to him, brushing Hadrian's face with his warm feathers. Salazar entered the portrait of the viewing gallery and instructed Hadrian to tilt his head back and not speak, as this bond would be more like Zelena's, it's own special type.

Hadrian did as instructed and tilted his head back, surprised to see a perch materializing directly over his head. Fawkes landed gracefully on the perch, and began blinking rapidly. Tears welled up in the pearly black eyes and Fawkes carefully leaned over the teen allowing a single pearly drop to land in each of Hadrian's eyes, and then one on his slightly parted lips. Hadrian was rather shocked, but blinked when Salazar told him to, and licked his lips, swallowing the tear there as well.

Once the phoenix left the perch and settled down at the floor, Hadrian stood there, unsure what would happen next. He didn't notice anything at first, but slowly warmth bubbled up in his limbs, starting with his fingers and toes and spreading until his entire body was warm, much warmer than he had ever been in the dungeons, and almost as hot as when he worked in the garden during the summers at the Dursleys. Sweat was dripping down his face as the heat ebbed from his limbs, but condensed in his core. A flash of pain radiated from his back, across his shoulder blades. He shuddered, but remained standing until Salazar told him it was finished. The heat had gone and with it, Hadrian's strength. He dropped where he stood in the center of the ritual circle, but gently stroked the phoenix when it hopped into his lap.

"What are your plans now, Hadrian?" Fawkes' voice whispered through Hadrian's head similar to the way the sorting hat communicated when being worn.

Hadrian sighed, he hadn't intended on explaining this quite yet, but needs must he supposed. "Me and my family are working on getting rid of Voldemort. He used soul magick and what he did can't be fixed so we're working on destroying his horcruxes so we can put him out of his misery," Harry shrugged. "The wizarding world needs help, the focus on light magic is destabilizing the world, and we don't want magic to die, so that's probably our next big project," He thought back to the phoenix who was regarding him intently. "More immediately, I need to get Ginevra back to her brothers and get all of them and Lockhart out of here and convince Dumbledore he still has some control over me so he doesn't pay as much attention to me."

Fawkes stared at Hadrian, unblinking, before after a few long minutes of silence, his voice echoed through Hadrian's head again. "I will trust you child, that you will locate something to keep alive. Do not make me regret my trust."

"I will do my best, Fawkes," Hadrian replied. "But what will happen to your bond with Dumbledore?" He hadn't even thought about it since the headmaster had been away from the school, but he was sure the man would return at some point.

"I will always be connected to the headmaster of Hogwarts, but it is merely a partial bond, and only to provide the required access to the wards. He is not my bonded master, you are," the phoenix replied.

"You won't tell him about me, will you?" Hadrian asked, focussing on the bird clearly.

"I am unable to, should you wish it so, young master," Fawkes bowed his head a bit.

"Good," Hadrian replied. "Please don't tell him. I'm trying to stay under his radar as long as possible."

"I see," Fawkes replied. "I can alert you should he mention anything regarding you in my presence, young master."

"Hadrian, please," the boy asked his newest familiar. "Just Hadrian. I would very much appreciate it if you could keep me informed of any plans he concocts regarding myself."

The bird nodded regally and fluttered up to sit on Hadrian's shoulder. The warmth surrounding the phoenix spread through Hadrian, reenergizing him, and he bid Salazar farwell. On his way through the portrait room, he detoured to the potions stores and grabbed a vial of Zelena's blood before returning to the chamber below. He waved his wand at Ginevra, drawing on her magic and flooding the destroyed book with it. When he had pulled what he thought was enough, the girl had collapsed on the floor and was extremely pale, which was perfect for his plan. The dark residue on the diary from the original spells was still very noticeable, so he thought it would likely convince the reinstated Headmaster. Picking up the sword, he poured the vial of blood over it to prove to Dumbledore that he had killed the monster with it, pocketed the book, and waved his wand to levitate Ginevra behind him as he made his was back through the tunnel to where he left the twins.

They had made significant progress in clearing some of the rock and there was a gap near the top large enough for both him and Ginevra to fit through. Fawkes fluttered his tail in front of Hadrian who gripped the still unconscious Ginevra in one hand while placing the sword through his belt like a fake scabbard, and grabbed the phoenix's tail. Fawes trilled a bit and weightlessness filled him as Fawkes flew through the gap and gently deposited the boy and girl in front of the twins and amnesic Lockhart.

Hadrian ordered the twins to hold on to Ginevra, and Lockhart grabbed on to Hadrian's waist. The twins linked hands around Hadrian's shoulders, and Hadrian gripped Fawkes' tail again, allowing the regal red and gold bird to transport them out the top of the pipe and back into the girls' bathroom. They quickly exited the room, not wanting to draw further attention to the location of the entrance, and were making their way toward the Headmasters office when the man himself appeared before them. He sent the twins off with their sister to the hospital wing, and instructed Gilderoy to follow when it became apparent he had no idea what was going on. Hadrian he pulled up to his office, Fawkes still resting serenely on the boy's shoulder.

Chapter 32 Notes

I borrowed bits and pieces of the Lockhart conversation from JKR in Chamber of Secrets, but I'm still not making any money.